Category Archives: Recognition

I keep forgetting to share this so the news is a little less than fresh right now, but it’s still fabulous. Every year Tangent Online puts together a recommended reading list and Corvidae and Scarecrow are all over the 2015 list. You can see the entire list by clicking here (there is a rather long essay at the top of the page, the listings come right after it). The tl;dr version, however, is that there are 13 Corvidae stories and 11 Scarecrow stories on the list. Whoot!

Every year I struggle to pick which six works to nominate for the Pushcart Prize. This year my job was made marginally easier after I spoke to Bill Henderson and learned I could nominate six works from both Niteblade and Poise and Pen. Yay! Still, it was a difficult decision-making process even so but I am excited to nominate the following works for the 2016 Pushcart Prize.

It’s that time of year. Where we share the work we did in the previous year which is eligible for awards. This is, for me, an awkward process that always feels a little vain, but I recognise that it is my job and it’s important, so I do it anyway 🙂

Being human, however, I do have a few favourites I would especially like to bring to your attention, and pieces with an asterisk are my favourite, favourite. I’m allowed to have those because I said :-p

Short Story

Published by Mythic Delirium in April 2014 and then again in the Mythic Delirium anthology which earned a starred review from Publishers Weekly this story was described as being fairy tale-esque, which made me happy.

…when you got down to the marrow of it, she was a storyteller. She created her own paper, beautiful stuff that was strung through with coloured fibers and peppered with seeds and blossoms. She wrote on it, her hand as elaborate as the paper and reminiscent of medieval scribes. She would often sew the pages together, creating books that she lined up, spines out, along her mantle. Sometimes though, she’d bury them by moonlight in her garden—

The Other Side of the Door (2,700 words)
Published by Kzine in January 2014. This is a ghost story I wrote while on vacation in Nova Scotia and it has been described as being haunting and heartbreaking. Two awesome things for a ghost story to be, right?

The boat was carried in on the back of the fog.
Growing up on the bay, Aric had seen boats slip through fog plenty of times, he’d even been on a few of them. They were nothing new or unusual for him, and yet—there was something about the shape in the mist, about this particular vessel. He leaned closer and pressed his forehead against the glass…

Poetry

Matches (13 lines)*

Published by Ruminate Magazine in August 2014. This poem isn’t speculative, which is problematic for me since most of the poetry awards I know are speculative, but it is my favourite poem, maybe ever.

Hereditary Delusions (32 lines)
Published by Every Day Poets in February 2014. The speculative angle is subtle, but it’s there if you look for it 😉

I thought he’d come / from light years away, / that the dust was residue / from the Big Dipper…

Editing (Anthologies / Related Work)

Fae (17 short stories about fairies)
Published by World Weaver Press in July 2014

“The Fae prove treacherous allies and noble foes in this wide-ranging anthology from Rhonda Parrish that stretches boundaries of folk tale and legend. These fairy stories are fully enmeshed in the struggles of today, with dangerous beings from under the hills taking stances against the exploitation of children and the oppression of women, yet offering bargains in exchange for their aid that those in desperate need had best think twice about accepting. There’s no Disney-esque flutter and glitter to be found here — but there are chills and thrills aplenty.” — Mike Allen, author of Unseaming and editor of Clockwork Phoenix

A is for Apocalypse (26 short stories about the apocalypse)
Published by Poise and Pen Publishing (me) in August 2014

“In A is for Apocalypse, the world ends in both fire and ice–and by asteroid, flood, virus, symphony, immortality, the hands of our vampire overlords, and crowdfunding. A stellar group of authors explores over two dozen of the bangs and whispers that might someday take us all out. Often bleak, sometimes hopeful, always thoughtful, if A is for Apocalypse is as prescient as it is entertaining, we’re in for quite a ride.” – Amanda C. Davis, author of The Lair of the Twelve Princesses

Editing (Fan Publication)

“The haunted, wonderful stories and poems published by Niteblade are often unsettling and strange but always utterly fantastic. I look forward to every new issue and I am honored that my work has been a part of it.” – Brittany Warman

(I won’t pick a favourite favourite from my edited works)

This year I can nominate and vote only for the Prix Aurora Awards, World Fantasy and Dwarf Star awards (I think). I will be keeping my eyes out for blog posts like this one, listing peoples eligible work, but if you’re afraid I might miss something you’d like me to consider, please don’t hesitate to leave a comment or drop me a line.

Editor-in-Chief of World Weaver Press, Eileen Wiedbrauk, recently announced her Pushcart nominations for 2014. They were:

“From a Stone,” Eric Choi, Far Orbit

“Starship Down,” Tracy Canfield, Far Orbit

“Queen of Lakes,” L.S. Johnson, Fae

“And Only The Eyes of Children,” Laura VanArendonk Baugh, Fae

“Ten Ways to Self-Sabotage, Only Some of Which Relate to Fairies,” Sara Puls, Fae

“The Wicked Child,” Elise Forier Edie, Krampusnacht

Congratulations and good luck to all the nominees, but an extra big yay for the authors whose stories were in Fae. I’m so stoked for L.S., Laura and Sara. Their stories are fabulous, and it’s awesome to see them receive a little extra recognition.

Every year I talk about how difficult it is to choose which works to nominate for the Pushcart Prize and that’s because each year it gets harder. This year I was saved from truly heartbreaking decisions by two things:

Okay, this may seem a little braggy, but it came at a time I was feeling really low and totally made my week so I’m going to share it here. My Tesseracts tale, Bedtime Story, was Aaron Hughes’ story recommendation of the week over at Fantastic Reads!

Having friends enjoy your work is fantastic, but when a total stranger* reads your story and enjoys it enough to blog about it? That’s pretty freaking phenomenal!

I am so excite!

Yes, I said excite on purpose. Because.

:-p

*Aaron and I are Facebook friends now, but had no connection when this was posted.

Recently while at brunch with some good friends, one of them looked at me and said “Rhonda, why don’t you just write a bestseller and buy a villa in Tuscany already?”

Write a bestseller.

Just like that, easy peasy.

Now why didn’t I think of that?

🙂

In other news, it’s not a bestselling novel but I’m the six word memoirist of the day at Smith Mag today. That means my picture and one of my six word stories is featured on their front page at http://www.smithmag.net

I probably should have shared that in a more restrained manner, but I’m so incredibly honored and flabberghasted that I just had to blurt it out — especially after forcing myself to wait so I could share it first in my newsletter 🙂

Thank you so much to who(m)ever nominated it. You rock. I love you.

Congrats to everyone else who had work nominated this year, especially to my friends Greg Schwartz, Deborah P. Kolodji, Joshua Gage, Marge Simon and her husband Bruce Boston. I’m so very honored to know I will be sharing a table of contents with you all in the 2009 Rhysling Anthology.

The very same anthology that includes my short story “Spoiled Picnic”. I’m excited for him because he has two anthologies nominated. Tim was a wonderful editor to work with, always friendly, professional and friendly. I am happy that good things are happening for him 🙂

While this is, very decidedly, Tim’s honor not mine I am also excited for myself. Why? Because I’m a fan girl at heart and the fact my story is in a book that is on the same nomination list as work by people like Stephen King, Bruce Boston, Steve Rasnic Tem and Melanie Tem is enough to make me go ‘squee’! I know it’s a pretty slim association, but it makes me happy just the same.

I had a good day yesterday, no, actually, it was a great day. Days like that don’t come along very often.

First, my short story Axe was chosen to appear in the first ever print edition of Demon Minds. Yay! I was very excited about having it accepted for the online version a few weeks ago, but I’m one of those writers who love, love, loves to see their work in actual print. Axe is the most disturbing story I’ve ever written, though, so it’s exciting and nerve-wracking to know it is going to print.

Also in the category of nerve-wracking is that I heard back from one of the agents I’d queried about Blood and Stone (which I’ve renamed Swamp Story). She requested a partial. *squee* I’m so excited, but nervous too. Keep your fingers crossed for me…

But wait, there’s more!

The day before yesterday I got an email from Carolyn Clink inviting me to read some of my poetry at an open mic event during World Fantasy. I don’t intend to read, but I hope to attend and listen, and I did do a little fan-girl squeal and bounce in my seat at reading the email. It was sent to me and a few other people, but we were all mentioned by name in the body of the email. Yes, I really did think ‘Oh my god, Carolyn Clink wrote me an email, she totally knows I’m alive!’. Yup. For those of you not familiar with Carolyn, she’s a very talented poet and she is married to Robert J. Sawyer. Yup. So full of awesome.

But, more about yesterday…

I’d entered a contest a few days ago and I got the email yesterday that I’d won! I would include a link here to the book I won, but um…I don’t have the link yet. Once I do, I’ll share it 🙂

Last, but certainly not least, my copies of Lost Innocence arrived yesterday. They look amazing! I can’t wait for people to see them, they are so gorgeous. Now I just need to figure out how to get them to the post office (I don’t drive and 40 books are heavy). I suspect they will be being mailed out in waves.

So yes, I had a fantastic day yesterday. Have you ever had a day like that? I’d love to hear about it.